By Chelsey Dulaney
Expedia Inc. agreed to buy longtime rival Travelocity from Sabre
Corp. for $280 million, joining two of the most prominent travel
sites as they face pressure from industry newcomers.
Expedia and Travelocity have been working together since 2013,
when they entered into a long-term agreement under which Expedia
handles most of Travelocity's operations, from running searches to
answering customer's questions.
Expedia shares fell about 1% in morning trading.
Expedia, launched in 1996 by a small division within Microsoft
Corp, went public in 1999 and has since grown into a travel
behemoth with brands such as Hotels.com, Hotwire, eLong Inc. and
Trivago.
The deal underscores how crowded the online-travel industry has
become.
The legacy players--Expedia, Travelocity, Priceline.com Inc. and
Orbitz Worldwide Inc.--known as online travel agencies, have been
joined in recent years by websites like Kayak and Hipmunk that also
scan the online travel agencies in their searches for travel
deals.
Travel websites have responded to the competitiveness by
offering discounts and loyalty programs.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
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